Prom preparations perk up business

Lansing High School students looking to decrease their waistlines have caused an increase business at one local salon.

Inch-less body wraps are a popular service offered at Body Beautiful salon especially for occasions like prom.

"Girls come in before dances so they fit into their dresses better," said Body Beautiful manager Laura Henderson.

The body wraps help to extract toxins and impurities that form around fatty deposit area like the stomach and hips, she said.

"It creates a very definite fat loss for some fatty areas," Henderson said.

During the hour-and-a-half process, technicians cloak the entire body in cotton cloths soaked in an all-natural mixture of aloe vera and detoxifying herbs. The toxins then leave the body either through pores or the lymphatic system, which passes the toxins through the kidney or liver and out of the body.

In the 24 hours following the wrap process, Henderson recommends drinking 128 ounces -16 glasses - of water to help flush the toxins out of the system.

She said the inches could stay off as long as the people receiving the treatment follow the food plan. The plan advises them to eat protein and not drink alcohol or eat salty or fried foods. It includes a shopping list and suggested meal plans.

"If they follow the meal plan, the inches stay off," Henderson said.

Henderson recommends getting a wrap six days before an event to see the ideal results, but getting a wrap three to four days in advance will yield the results many desire. For those who want to continue seeing results, Body Beautiful also offers a six-week program where some participants have lost as many as 25 inches, Henderson said.

Henderson said she noticed business picking up about four weeks ago, and in the past two weeks, business has doubled with about 14 prom goers.

Besides body wraps, Body Beautiful has seen an influx in clients who want to tan.

"Girls want to know what lotion will give them better color or which ones have shimmer in them," Henderson said.

While some LHS girls will get ready for Saturday by getting wraps, tanning, and getting manicures and pedicures, cosmetologist at Head and Toe salon Missy Simpson will get ready for prom day by getting a lot of sleep and stocking up on hairspray. Her calendar has been booked solid for three months with girls wanting updos for the prom.

"One o'clock in the afternoon was the first to go," she said. "That way they can tan in the morning and have the rest of the day to get ready."

Simpson said the average updo takes 45 minutes depending on the intricacy of the design. The popular styles depend on the season and style of dress, Simpson said.

For winter formal in January, the popular request was wearing their hair down with spiral curls. This spring, Simpson said she expects the trend to be wearing hair up with a funkier updo.

Usually the girls have an idea of what kind of hairstyle they want to wear, but if they put the decision in Simpson's hands, she said she tries to go with something that matches their personality.

"One time a girl with short hair was going to wear a zebra-print dress, so I did a twisty spiky up do," she said. "There's just so much you can do."

Her day will begin Saturday at 9:45 a.m. Eleven updos later, at 6 p.m., her day will be ending just as the girls' nights will be beginning.

"I make them last so they don't have to worry about it after they leave," Simpson said.